Yet more moral illiteracy over Israel from the BBC. Reporting on the talks between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, Matthew Price writes:

‘The Palestinians told the Israelis that they want freedom of movement in and out of Gaza. They want air and sea ports re-opened. They also want Israel to release their prisoners. And they want key Palestinian towns handed back to their control. Israel said that was fine, but first all Palestinian attacks against Israel must stop. And the devil is in that little word "all". Many analysts will tell you that Israel is placing unrealistic conditions on the Palestinian leadership. While Israel's prime minister insists the problem starts and ends with Palestinian terrorism, the Palestinians see it differently. They say the attacks against Israel are a result of almost 40 years of occupation of Palestinian lands. So "all" may be a pretty tall order. After the meeting, Israel put a positive spin on the day. The Palestinians were clearly desperately upset. Israel had again set the conditions for any movement on some crucial issues.’

The assumptions in this passage are breathtaking. Israel is painted as unreasonable because it insists that ‘all’ attacks by the Palestinians must stop before it makes any concessions. Price’s assumption is that the reasonable position would be for Israel to make concessions even while the Palestinians are making repeated attempts to murder its citizens; it would be reasonable, apparently, in these circumstances to make these concessions to the leader who is refusing to halt the attacks or the incitement that is driving it. And the reason Price thinks like this is that he appears to endorse — at the very least makes no attempt to refute — the Palestinian lie that ‘the attacks against Israel are a result of almost 40 years of occupation of Palestinian lands’. Since the Arab attempt to ethnically cleanse the Jews from the ancient homeland which was restored to them after centuries of Arab colonisation has been going on since the early 20th century, including numerous wars of which the current war of terror is but the latest, the endorse such a propaganda lie requires either malevolent prejudice or ignorance of the very highest order. Take your pick. Either way, the BBC has become a force for spreading darkness in the world.